Expenses for housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels took up 16.6% of Cypriot household budgets in 2015, significantly lower than the 25% European average.

Finance Minister Harris Georgiades has pledged that government efforts for economic recovery will continue with the same gravity and intensity.

The new passenger terminal at the Limassol Port is set to be unveiled at the start of the new year, putting an end to the current chaotic scenes for passengers arriving and departing Cyprus.

The 27.7% of all persons in Cyprus who were unemployed in the first quarter of 2016, found a job in the second quarter of the year, according to Eurostat.

Cyprus’ current account deficit shrank last year to €514m, which is the lowest since 2008, or 2.9% of economic output, down from a deficit of €760.6m or 4.3% last year, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.

Cystat recently released its statistics regarding the latest figures in Imports, Sales and Stocks of Petroleum Products in October 2016.

Capital intelligence Ratings, the Limassol-based rating company, raised the financial strength rating and long-term foreign currency rating of Bank of Cyprus and Hellenic Bank a notch to B+.

Hellenic Bank was profitable for the third consecutive quarter during 2016, reporting a profit from continuing operations of €5m for the nine-month period ended 30 September 2016, compared to €1.9 million for the nine-months period of 2015.

The liquidity shortfall in the Cypriot banking system narrowed in October to €5.5bn, which is the lowest value since February 2013, the month before the bail-in, the Central Bank of Cyprus said.

In November 2016, the economic sentiment in Cyprus edged up as the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI-CypERC) increased by 0.3 points compared to October because of improvements in retail trade, industry and consumer confidence.